— A lightweight bout between Phil Cardella and Ed Ratcliff has reportedly been added to the lineup for WEC 42, which takes place on August 9 in Las Vegas. Cardella fell in his WEC debut in March, dropping a split decision to Danny Castillo while Ratcliff lost his first bout in the WEC at the same event to former lightweight title challenger Marcus Hicks. [MMA Weekly]

— During last night’s broadcast of the “2009 VGAs First Look E3 Special” on Spike TV, UFC President Dana White revealed as one of his patented “special announcements” that THQ has begun plans for “UFC Undisputed 2010”, the sequel to the popular UFC video game currently in stores now. The game is expected to be released in the spring of next year. [MMA Mania]

— UFC lightweight contender Kenny Florian recently revealed in a email newsletter to his fans that he will serve as the color commentator for WEC 41: “Brown vs. Faber II” on June 7. Florian will be covering for interim UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir, who is preparing for a title unification bout against Brock Lesnar at UFC 100 in July. Florian last served as the color commentator at UFC 83 in April 2008. [MMA Junkie]

Ed Ratcliff has reportedly been forced out of his scheduled bout against WEC newcomer Anthony Njokuani at next week’s WEC 38 event after suffering an undisclosed injury during a recent training session.

According to MMA Weekly, Maximum Fighting Championship veteran Benson Henderson will be replacing Ratcliff on the card. Henderson will come into his fight against Njokuani on a six-fight winning streak. The WEC’s official website also lists Jose Aldo with a new opponent, Rolando Perez. No word as to why Fredson Paixao was removed from the card.

In other WEC news, MMA Junkie is reporting that Mike Budnik will be facing former International Fight League competitor John Franchi in a lightweight bout at WEC 39, which is slated to take place on March 1 in Corpus Christi, Texas.

World Extreme Cagefighting has released the complete fight card for it’s upcoming WEC 38 event on January 25 at the San Diego Sports Arena in California where WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner will defend his title against rising contender Donald Cerrone.

The show’s co-main event will feature a rematch between former champions as Urijah Faber will attempt to bounce back from his recent loss to Mike Thomas Brown against one-time UFC lightweight title holder Jens Pulver. Faber won an unanimous decision over Pulver in a 2008 fight-of-the-year candidate back on June 1.

Two changes to separate preliminary fights have finalized the fight card for this week’s WEC 36 event, which will take place on Wednesday, November 5 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

Former “Ultimate Fighter” cast member Alex Schoenauer was forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout against Steve Steinbeiss after tearing his hamstring during a recent training session. Schoenauer was actually a replacement for light heavyweight prospect Mark Munoz who also injured during his preparation for Steinbeiss. The Argentinan will be replaced by a fellow UFC veteran, American Kickboxing Academy product Carmello Marrero.

He may not have been hit by the injury bug prior to Wednesday’s show, but Ed Ratcliff has been removed from the undercard for unknown reasons. Ratcliff was slated to take on Danny Castillo, who will now try to pick up his first WEC win against newcomer Rafael Dias, a veteran that has competed for the likes of BodogFight and the IFL in the past. The updated lineup for the event is after the jump.

World Extreme Cagefighting today officially announced the complete lineup of fights that will take place at the organization’s scheduled September 10th event in Hollywood, Florida.

The most notable bout made official today involves former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver looking to solidify himself as a contender once again in the WEC’s featherweight division as he will take on fellow heavy-hitter Leonard Garcia. The bout will be part of the event’s televised main card on Versus.

Pulver is coming off of a failed attempt to dethrone reigning 145 lb champion Urijah Faber while Garcia will be fighting for the first time since being charged and eventually cleared of involvement in a New Mexico drug ring.

Brian Stann throws a left hand at Doug Marshall. Photo property of World Extreme Cagefighting.

So I figured I’d put down some of my thoughts/opinions regarding last night’s televised WEC 33 card on the Versus network.

First off, the WEC may just be my favorite promotion. Because they feature the lighter weight classes, there always seems to be action. While many of the guys are raw, they always seem to bring it.

Last night the WEC began using Craig Hummer for the post fight interviews. I like Frank Mir as the color analyst a lot. His knowledge really comes through in the call of the fight. Sometimes he makes the claim that a submission is “locked in” and that “its over” a bit prematurely, but I can live with that. The only weakness was his post fight interviews. By using a professional like Craig Hummer, it came across much better.

WEC champions Paulo Filho and Doug Marshall will each defend their respective titles at World Extreme Cagefighting’s next event on March 26th.

The news comes from MMA Weekly, who reports that the promotion will now hold the event at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas instead of a previously mentioned location of Sacramento, California. Indications suggest that the idea of holding an event in the home state of WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber was scrapped after an attempt to schedule a bout between him and former UFC lightweight title holder Jens Pulver was unsuccessful.

Apparently Filho will once again defend his middleweight strap in a rematch against Chael Sonnen, whom Filho defeated in controversial fashion in December. Sonnen has kept his stance that he did not tell referee Josh Rosenthal to stop the bout while being trapped in a Filho armbar.

The fight will also likely be Filho’s last at 185 lbs according to boxing coach Josuel Distak, who stated last month that Filho has opted to move up in weight due to cutting problems.

While it might seem crazy that Filho is moving up in weight, he might be a good career move for the near future if he really is indeed having problems making 185 lbs. The WEC’s light heavyweight division is very stacked talent-wise and even though Filho would be still be undersized for the weight class, he would most likely tear through guys like Doug Marshall, Ariel Gandulla, and Brian Stann.

Speaking of Marshall and Stann, the two heavy-hitting light heavyweights are also expected to clash at the event in a battle that will see Marshall attempt to retain his belt against the popular U.S. Marine.

Additional bouts mentioned in the report include a meeting between welterweight title contenders John Alessio and Brock Larson in a fight where the winner may also be fighting the victor of the Carlos Condit-Carlo Prater welterweight title bout at some point later this year. Others were the following: Kenji Osawa vs. Chris Manuel, Marcus Hicks vs. Ed Ratcliff, and Bryan Baker vs. Nissen Osterneck.